Rate my cop website goes online

nist7

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A new website is stirring up quite the controversy. It's here: http://anonym.to/?http://www.ratemycop.com/ (the anonym is not part of their website, which is simply ratemycopDOTcom) and it gathers names of police officers from all over America and what department they work for. The website does not have any personal information such as pictures, phone numbers, addresses, etc. Although some do have badge numbers.

Opponets of this website, including the police community, cite privacy and safety concerns for the officers. Proponents counter with freedom of speech and the fact that the names and departments of officers are already public information and this website only makes it easier for public citizens to document and rate interactions with officers. How the website authenticates an officer rating is still unclear.

The website is probably getting a lot of traffic today and will not always load. So just keep hitting refresh until you succeed.

Police agencies from coast to coast are furious with a new website on the internet. RateMyCop.com has the names of thousands of officers, and many believe it is putting them in danger.

Officer Hector Basurto, the vice president of the Latino Police Officers Association, recently learned about the site. "I'd like to see it gone," he said.

"Having a website like this out there puts a lot of law enforcement in danger," he said. "It exposes us out there."

Kevin Martin, the vice president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, agrees. "Will they be able to access our home addresses, home phone numbers, marital status, whether or not we have children? That's always a big concern for us," he said.

Creators of the site say no personal information will be on the site. They gathered officers' names, which are public information, from more than 450 police agencies nationwide. Some listings also have badge numbers along with the officer's names.

Rebecca Costell says, in a statement, that the site helps people rate more than 130,000 officers by rating them on authority, fairness and satisfaction.

She adds, "Our website's purpose is to break the stereotype that people have that cops are all bad by having officers become responsible for their actions."

The site is so new that many Bay Area police agencies are not aware of it. San Francisco police say they have no connection with the site and would not take any of its comments seriously.

Police associations that represent more than 100,000 police and sheriffs in California are now seeking legislation to see if they can eliminate the site altogether. They say that officers who are rated face unfair maligning without any opportunity to defend themselves.

The CPCA will work with other law enforcement associations to pursue legislation to stop the website. Constitutional attorney and former San Francisco Police Commissioner Peter Keane said eliminating the site is difficult.

"Any kind of publication is protected as long as it's not publishing privileged information," he said.

The First Amendment would be the site's protection.
http://cbs13.com/local/rate.a.cop.2.673410.html
 
I'm all for this. There are a lot of dickhead cops who either don't wear their badge or don't provide their badge number if you ask them.

If they enter this industry, then they should be fine with having their names and badge numbers posted on a central site like this. I've never been in trouble with the law other than motoring issues, but even I know there are cops out there who just like to hassle people, because they know you can't do anything in return.
 
I'm all for this as well. If they can pull up a whole page of information about me during a traffic stop then shouldn't I be able to do the same with them? They are public servants whose salaries are paid by my tax money after all. I think this will be a good system of checks and balances and if it somehow cuts down on the overreactions with the tazers so much the better.
 
I'm down for this, there are some great cops out there that are just doing their job and they're doing it well, but then of course you can't have matter without anti-matter...

I support any website that sheds light on the anti-matter (and matter) be it professors or police officers.

The only funny thing is that I didn't realize how many people worked in the San Diego Police Dept. My dad has been saying that there aren't that many cops out there dealing with traffic issues and everyone is driving fast on the freeways (90+ mph). Not sure how true that is, but I'm still quite surprised.
 
^ Apparently GoDaddy closed down the site with no notice or anything for suspicious activities, whatever that means. GoDaddy was probably forced by the authorities to shut them down... so much for freedom of speech and all that jazz.

The only reason authorities would have to close down such a service is because they know there's so much corruption and unfair activities by police officers. What else could be the drawback? I can't see how something like this site would hinder the police's ability to serve and protect.
 
I suspect it has more to do with public display of private information than anything else. I think it's a great idea as long as they have the officers' permission first.

The flip side is that 99% of the site would have been "BAWWWWWWWWWWWW A RACIEST COP GAV ME A TIKET FUR SPEEDIN CUZ IM AZN" and shit like that. Complete shitshow.
 
^ What other private information is being shown other than officers' names and in some cases their badge numbers? It doesn't list any personal information other than those two things.

You're right in that many people would probably leave horrid ratings out of spite, but with a little bit of monitoring by the admins it can become a useful tool like RateMyProfessors.com has become. I used that all throughout high school and university and for the most part the comments and ratings were bang on.
 
^ What other private information is being shown other than officers' names and in some cases their badge numbers? It doesn't list any personal information other than those two things.

You're right in that many people would probably leave horrid ratings out of spite, but with a little bit of monitoring by the admins it can become a useful tool like RateMyProfessors.com has become. I used that all throughout high school and university and for the most part the comments and ratings were bang on.

As much as I'm sceptical about University as a means of learning and so on... You're much more likely to have a satisfactory encounter with one than you are with a cop. I think this site is gonna be a useless shithole where monkeys fling their feces at policemen and drown out the legitimate ratings in a wall of noise.
 
I got the distinct feeling that people gonna die because of this.
 
I think this is a great idea, I did a public services course last year and I am all for this public display of information which I think if I was a cop I would be glad of.
 
Until they stop harassing honest, hardworking people with expensive tickets just so they can make their quotas every month, and start actually cracking down on the real crime... they all get a big fat 0 from me.
 
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